Requests for aircraft trajectory changes are regularly made by pilots to air traffic controllers during flight. Such requests are more likely to be approved if the requested trajectory does not conflict with trajectories of other traffic aircraft and does not put the aircraft in a path toward another hazard, such as high wind turbulence or inclement weather.
In addition, approvable trajectory change requests benefit the aircraft operator by increasing the portion of the flight flown on or near a desired trajectory, thereby accomplishing various operator objectives for the flight such as maximizing fuel efficiency, minimizing flight time, and/or reducing the impact of turbulence on ride quality. Approvable trajectory changes also benefit the air traffic controllers by reducing their workload through reduction of non-approvable trajectory change requests.
There remains a need, however, for systems and methods for generating flight-optimizing trajectories by pilots with an user-friendly device interface that allows for user selection of various inputs to obtain trajectory changes that are more likely to be approved by air traffic controllers and/or that offer greater operator objectives.